Saturday, July 01, 2017

Blog revival

It’s never
too late to think of New year’s projects in July. After all, now that it’s
summer break and things are a slower tempo than usual in Sweden, it feels as if
the year is just beginning. The spring term flew by so fast, that literally I couldn’t
remember all the things that happened if I didn’t write them down. A few highlights
from the start of the year though:

My research
project is going as planned and I am also about to start on new teaching tasks
in the autumn term;

I went on my life’s first skiing
vacation in Höglekardalen in February;

I got a visit from Lea and LJ and we
had a very outdoorsy week in Abisko;

and last
but not the least: after a year of irritation, anger and frustration about the
co-owned boat project Fixa, I put my foot down, sold my share and bought my
very own sailboat to start afresh on boat life.

The
prospect of owning a boat by myself was a both scary and exciting in the face
of a untested challenge. Before making the decision, my brain was telling me
half the time that I shouldn’t bite more than I could chew. The other half of
the time, another part of my brain was asking me what it was I was so afraid
of. I made a list of pros and cons, and also how I could think differently, and
constructively about the cons. That made me realize that the cons were all hypothetical
scenarios that haven’t happened yet, and were only fears in my head. I was
afraid that my abilities would not be enough to cut it (but that doesn’t exclude
the ability to learn more!); that it would be an expensive pursuit (I could
earn the money again); and I felt vulnerable pursuing a project on my own, that
usually is pursued by two (but what are friends for?). The pros, on the other hand,
were actual facts: I have gone courses on navigation, sailing and radio; I have
some experience of boat repair; I already had a paid place at a summer harbor; and
what experience and knowledge I would need on the way, I could learn.

I have already
been out with the boat a couple of times and I tell you they have both been
learning experiences where things that could go wrong eventually went right in
the end (The latest adventure involved my anchor line knotted around the
propeller – but more on that in another entry. Needless to say, it should never
happen again!).

So, back to
projects for 2017…

My first
project is to get to know this boat this season, and learn as much as I can about
how to maneuver and sail this long-keeled craft so I could end this season with
a feeling of confidence. The destinations don’t have to be far; but getting
there will be leaps of experience nonetheless. I look forward to a season of being
the boat’s captain, with the responsibility and decisions that this entails,
but with the humility that I still have a lot to learn and could learn from
others with more experience. Even those who had owned boats for years must have
started from somewhere – and basically, that started-at-somewhere is where I
am.

The second
project is, not least as this boat project goes along, to start writing in this
blog again. Back in 2007, I blogged about our adventures with my first boat, Juanita.
I wrote about other things too: Swedish food, my own food experiments, events
that happened around the neighborhood, books that I have read, etc. With what I
wrote, it seemed like my family could re-live all these things with me; they
could also be read again and again. As I discovered Facebook and Viber, my blog
posts have dwindled from twice a month to about twice a year. My plan is to
have a frequency somewhere in between :-) That’s a start!